A Jedi in Exile
by CobaltComet
Summary: As Galactic Civil War looms over the Galaxy, very few haven't taken a side, one of these rare few is Westerly Gunn, a twi'lek mechanic keeping away from war the best she can, by maintaining gas collectors on the mining world of Bespin, it's only when a belonging of hers is stolen is she entangled in the greater war raging across the stars above. (Canon/Legends fusion) (Set 2 BBY)
1. Disclaimer

DISCLAIMERS FOR THIS STORY

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I DO NOT OWN STAR WARS, THIS IS A PIECE OF FAN FICTION DESIGNED FOR MINE AND OTHERS ENJOYMENT, PLEASE DO NOT SUE ME MIGHTY DISNEY GODS

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Speaking of Disney, while trying to adhere to the new Star Wars canon introduced through the Clone Wars TV show and the line of comics post the axing of the post RoTJ Expanded Universe. However I will not be taking into consideration the Disney XD shoe Star Wars: Rebels, mainly because I haven't watched enough of it and I don't enjoy enough of it to consider it worth tying into this story, so apologises to anyone hoping for any references to them

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I will be attempting to cover some EU material I feel is suitable to bring into the current canon with a lot of potential Canon/Legends fusion.

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I appreciate any comments, things you liked, things you may want to see in this series, I love feedback so if you don't like commenting, drop me a PM if you've got a question, although no spoilers of course


	2. Days Gone By (Chapter 1)

A Jedi in Exile: Lost to The Galaxy

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The dark clouds of Bespin were a welcome sight to Wes every morning, from her standard Cloud City apartment she watched the vapour trails of crimson Cloud Cars as they soared over overhead, the Twi'lek folded her legs and kept her posture upright as Rutian blue eyelids shut over her narrow sapphire pupils.

Being on one of the higher tier levels of the apartment complex, Wes was granted a view of the amber sunrise and all the busyness of assortment of small transport zooming into and out of the clouded orbit.

After several twists and contortions of her bare arms and legs, Wes let herself rest with a deep breath, swiping sweat from her naked lekku and sighing as she felt her apartment rock lightly as a particularly big space cruiser passed overhead, she assumed a Star Destroyer and kept her composure as it's almighty shadow consumed what light leaked onto her box-like balcony.

A Star Destroyer did pass overhead, being one of the more docile worlds, Wes rarely saw one of the Empire's most iconic star-ships on Bespin, the world was so quiet but to hear the rumble of ion engines sparked goosebumps that rushed up her arms. She cast that sensation aside and chose to return to the warmth of her apartment.

The orange tint of the bulb that hung from the centre of her longe gave her little sense of warmth. She felt cold under it's reach and so stepped into her bathroom, the metal door sliding aside as the shined surface of her sink came into view, cramped between that and the worn down wall was her shower.

Stripping off and stepping under the running showerhead, she was reminded of what cold really felt like as several rogue squirts of water ran cold against the blue skin of her lekku, earning a dissatisfied groaned from her before she banged her opened palm against the shower controls, it wheezing in response before continuing to churn out streams of warmer water.

After the grime and sweat slid down her figure with the water into the small drain beneath her, she stepped out, wrapping a towel around herself as she stepped out, reaching over her table and tapping a button on the side of her holoprojector.

A translucent blue image blurred from the centre of the disk, eventually warping into large hologram of the Bespin weather and several crawls of Galactic Basic rotated around the planet's miniature, as she had expected, clear skies with the usual hot weather all world round. She tapped the button and the image collapsed before unravelled her towel and wiped over the nape of her neck as she stepped carefully into her room.

She brushed through the assortment of clothes hanging from open metal locker that the apartment manager claimed to be a wardrobe, she plucked out a simple grey tunic and dropped the soaked towel at her feet, stepping on it to dry her feet while she pulled herself into her clothes.

After tightening the brown leather of her headpiece to her head, Wes slung a bag over her shoulder, the weathered strap digging into her shoulder as she began to pile her tools inside of it.

She quickly stepped out of her apartment and walked the bright smooth corridors of the complex, quickly walking down the long corridor of her floor and set the turbolift to descend to the ground floor.

Once there she began to weave through the crowds of Cloud City, not stopping to mind others, her shoulder collided with others as she made her way towards one of the turbolifts marked apart from others due to a plaque above the door that read "Maintenance." That took her into the deeper bowls of the floating city.

When she exited the lift the smooth, gleaming walls and fresh atmosphere of upper Cloud City had been replaced with darken reds and bursts of steams from piping that ran along the maintenance shaft until she got to the end of the corridor there was nothing but the claustrophobia of the nearby leaking pipes and exposed wiring.

The main collection chamber was better, a place better suited for the usual Ugnaughts. The chamber was split into two circles, the outer ring functioned as a observation catwalk that allowed for a overhead view of the inner ring that was positioned tightly around a tall transparent glass canister. Those on the inner ring watched as thick browning gas clouded the canister.

Wes took to the one of nearby beams that acted as both a support and a pipe that channelled any excess out of the system. She crouched next to the beam and carefully began to click open the metal clasps on it's spine, revealing a internal tubing that was already layered in gel that seemed to be doing a decent job in holding in any Tibanna gas should the piping get any noticeable tearing.

Reaching back into her bag, she fished out a canister of foam sealant and began to press her finger into the trigger atop the silver can, letting a spray of grey cover a faint tear almost out of sight and nearly completely masked by the shadows of the beam's interior shaft.

Her shifts consisted of maintaining the overflow tubes and it didn't take long to have any visible tears covered and sorted, the overseer didn't need much convincing, so long as the gas collection was in the positives he was happy with most the work done by the Twi'lek, of course Wes rarely got away without a remark from the flirtatious official, she had estimated he was in his late 40s due to his greying hair and sagging neck, she took the suggestive remarks and did nothing about them, choosing to leave every shift with her dignity and credits in hand.

Taking the turbolift back up to ground level, Wes had the long ascent to notice how the hot the collection chamber had been and how her jumpsuit clung to her inner garments and the rising stink of sweat made her want to get home quicker.

Usually she would stop at one of Cloud City's cantinas and enjoy herself some Nerf Nuggets but the thought of another second in those sweat ridden clothes made her rethink the remainder of her day.

When the turbolift stopped on the ground floor she rushed through illuminated corridors and hallways until she got to her apartment, the crowded lifts were bearable although the hot weather seemed to have affected most of the people in her complex as the aroma of the lift indicated.

Something Wes had grown accustomed to was the short half days, it made her work days bearable but made her miss the long days of Coruscant… before the dark times.

The ding of the elevator's speak stopped dreadful turbolift music playing and allowed her to slip out of the crowded lift. She looked across the railings and out into the darkening skies, smiling faintly at how peaceful everything felt, the warm glow against her skin, the light breeze against her lekku, the easy day at work… it all just felt… natural.

Stopping in front of her door, she pressed a thumb to the scanner pad level with where a door handle would have existed, the door slide open quickly, revealing her darken room and a discarded case at the foot of door…

"Whose there?" Wes called out, stepping into the dark room and promptly switching the lights on, seeing the rest of her room searched through, her heart sank seeing her holoprojector dismantled and in pieces across her seemingly untouched table. She looked towards her room and saw what little light that escaped through the open door vanish.

Grabbing what remained of her metal chair, Wes slowly moved towards the bedroom door, leaning back with it as she saw the door begin to slide open.

She was met with the sound of a blaster discharging against her, a numbing sensation ripped through her muscles, forcing her to drop the chair as she was crashed back onto the ground. Wes' eyes across her attacker, spotting a tanned face through the tight wraps of black cloth coiled around the attacker's hooded head but it was only a second as the figure removed their cloak, revealing an armoured torso and a well-worn jetpack, any more details were lost as her attacker bolted out of the apartment.

The stun began to wear off, years of practising and mediation playing off finally as the paralysis ended the moment she could flex her fingers into fists. Jumping to her feet, Wes eagerly rushed out after her jetpack wearing attacker.

Wes spotted him fleeing across the railed second floor, she took a deep breath and began to focus herself, running after him and begin to gain on him even as she had to weave in and out of crowds.

He must have known she was gaining as he quickly vaulted the railings, Wes watched as his jetpack spurted into life, two small exhausts spitting jets of fire, just enough for him to begin ascending.

What he didn't expect was to feel a weight on his legs, a invisible kind that anchored him in the middle of the air… He turned his head back and spotted the source, the outstretched hand of the very person he had robbed.

What looked like a simple action of a force user took what seemed like her entire focus, eyes screwed shut as the very digits of her fingers began to flex inwards and shake with tension. Wes felt a heavy weight on her chest, pressing her heart and forcing it to rattle in her chest like her life depended on it, the thought of pulling the attacker towards her sent a heavy, nauseous sensation through Wes' body, the stress was growing too much.

But it would be worth it, the attacker was slowly floating towards the balcony again and would soon be within a distance to subdue, forgetting about the other residents of the block as she focused on those few feet left to move the attacker across…

 ** _CLICK_**

The unmistakable sound of a primed thermal detonator made her heave, the hot panic of a nearby explosion made her open her eyes, the grip on him loosening as the attacker seemed nearly capable of escaping her grasp, seeing the blinking red in his grip made her pale, her focus shifting entirely on the explosive, watching it leave the man's hand as it soared across the Bespinian air towards the nearby crowd of watchers.

The pressure in her chest vanished as she felt as if was the tension between the attacker and her force pull. Of course she heard the wheezing thrusters grow distant as her eyes narrowed around the detonator, her outstretched hand reached for the detonator instead, witnessing the outer shell of grey shrapeal splinter and expand as red flames began to erupt from beneath in some horrific slow motion.

Clenching her fist tightly and channelling the thought of containing the explosion through herself, imagining herself physically clasping the explosion and carefully moulding it between her palms until it was nothing…

Her eyes had shut and no sounds could penetrate her trance like focus, for a moment she felt as if her years dedication and training had not saved herself and others from the fierce explosion, slowly opening her eyes she saw the slow retreat of the detonator as all the tiny shards of metal swirled back into the orb of raging red…

She looked to her right and saw the crowd of people backing up, she had saved them, and the relief betrayed her focus, resulting in a minor bang as the red puffed into the air harmless just like before…

When she rose, she was met by silence, Wes dismissed the attention and quickly stepped back into her apartment, pressing her thumb to the pad to seal the door behind her before anyone could get to her.

Such a show of force had weakened her, she stumbled towards the bathroom and the pressure inverted, relieving her of what blue milk she had drank and making a sharp pain spark across her mind, years of absence in The Force had amounted to this, the kind of power she had borrowed from it had been used in years.

The strain she was used to, years ago she would have been capable of doing a force push with little to no pain but after so much pain, so much agony, all the effort to rid herself of a connection to the force, she didn't want to come to rely upon it again but sometimes her emotions brought it all to the surface, a raw power that lacked the control she used to know….

After another shower, Wes sat herself on her bed, the small mattress one of the few things she thought had been left untouched, however as she laid down she felt the assortment of pillows out of shape, she didn't expect them to be perfect due to the rough handling the rest of the place had seen but noticed the distance between wall and bed…

Sitting up she noticed the mattress had definitely been moved from it's usual place... Wes sat up and flipped the thin mattress up, looking over the small compartment specifically designed for concealment… the small box that slowed into the compartment had been cracked open, reaching in and hoping to feel the cold metal that had been crafted a long time ago in a place far away, instead she found nothing…

It was gone… her lightsaber was gone…

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 **Hope you enjoyed, be sure to comment and follow the story for more!**


	3. Safe Passages (Chapter 2)

Hey! New chapter right here and now, woah!

I hope people have enjoyed the start of this, I sure have and after along time of fanboying I've started to plot out my own OC saga and so I hope you stick around because this series will cover areas both familiar to Star Wars movie fans and to book readers as the plot progresses!

Anyways... to the reviews!

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Way of the Void: Thank you! I have been told it's more of my stronger suites when it comes to writing and to talk about the concept; I love it! the idea of a Jedi on the run has been a long time favourite of mine despite it usually being such a sad story :P

Govant: No problem! Here is another chapter right here for you! And expect more, I'll admit with these earlier chapters I myself find it hard to write them because of their slow pace and the fact they set up much more intriguing things to come but I believe one more chapter or so and we could looking at some cool little scenes!

Now onto the story!

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A Jedi in Exile: Lost to The Galaxy

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Minutes felt like hours, the very air around her moved slow around her as she mediated, everything was quiet… peaceful as Wes was welcomed to the sensation of The Force… and everything it touched, the heat of atoms expiring, the cold chill of ice forging particle by particle, the sadness of death, the hopefulness of life…

Her mind began to drift, wondering back to days long forgotten... the packed skyline of Coruscant… the majestic sight of the Jedi Temple… and the smoke and screams that erupted from it.

Her head begin to ring with these thoughts, her exploration turned to trespassing as her concentration shatter at a knocking at her door.

It was her neighbour Kaan, she could sense a presence that was warm and friendly although she could feel a brewing storm of emotions beyond the metal door.

Once it slid open her neighbour's soft face tightened as Wes sensed the tension behind his taunt features.

"Wes… it's only fair I should warn you… but people have been talking and… I think someone may have sold you out to the Imperials."

"Thank you Kaan…" Wes offered a small smile to trick him, he bought it and relaxed.

"Have you managed to book yourself a way off world?"

Wes calmed "Of course I have, I'll be leaving in a moment."

Kaan nervously nodded and left her to think on her escape. Glad he had bought her lie as she shut her door again and moved back to her room. Finding the compartment under her mattress again and removing the box properly, the metal box being placed on the floor as a secondary box hidden beneath that one was revealed, she clicked it open began to scoop credits out of the box and into her bag. It was surprising how much she had left after years, who would have thought her robes and those books would have gone for that much…

Switching her vest and shorts for a more sensible white getup, thinking to herself that looked more of a missionary than a mechanic as she tightened the soft white fabric of her headpiece around her lekku.

After she was dressed, what space in her bag wasn't made up of credits had nutrition bars and sealed cans of numerous easy to cook foods shoved into them.

With that done, she stepped out onto her balcony, she'd miss the view but leaving was for the best, she had heard of all the Jedi who had been captures, whispers suggested a fate worse than death and Wes had no desire to confirm or deny them.

As she watched that orange sky for more time the shape of a Star Destroyer was visible above the floating city. She pondered on a thought… would there be a place in the galaxy free of the empire's looming shadow…

She stepped out of her apartment and hurried to the turbolift, not giving passers-by a chance to confirm her identity. Her eager steps became her downfall as she crashed into a crowd, moving too quick to remember where she had seen that sleek white armour before.

Wes stumbled back and felt her bag slip down her arm, clanging against the floor as its seal popped open from the impact, revealing the golden shine of credits piled atop more and more credits. It caught her eye as it did the men she had bumped into.

"Ma'am, come with us." Came a voice behind a white helmet.

She paled at the whole squadron of Stormtroopers she had barged into, her hand quickly clamping hold of her bag as she saw the stumble up. The mere thought of what capture meant made the lenses of the nearest trooper begin to crack. He immediately reached for his dropped E-11 blaster in response, getting so far as to aim it in her direction.

The next several seconds passed like a blur, the leading trooper was thrown backwards, his helmet audibly cracked against the polished floor as the two behind him were separated and thrown in opposing directions, one crashing into nearby bystander while the other hit the wall with a loud thud.

Wes moved over them again and resumed running, not stopping to consider arming herself with one of discarded blasters or what her next move would be, the sound of footsteps patter across the corridor made her heart race. There might have only been one stormtrooper… or two or maybe the whole group had recovered quicker than Wes thought.

She finally traded a smooth white for a dirty brown as she found herself rushing across one of Cloud City's numerous bridges, spotting the web of landing platforms that surrounded Cloud City.

Several worn down freighter ships came into sight, she wandered if a portion of her credits could be lent towards passage off-world, the thought of getting into those rusty old spaceships made her shudder, last time she had got into one of those she had been a small girl, any chance to feel as frail and scared as she did then had been avoided by Wes at any costs.

"There!" A stormtrooper called out. Several blasts of red flew after her, one snagging her right arm as another soared past her lekku, just inches from irreparable damage occurring.

She continued to run, failing to think of local Cloud City security, they'd hand her over to the Empire for sure. She passed a pair of turbolifts that slid open, resulting in a large swarm of people poured out and into her way.

Wes considered shattering the nearby window with a burst of force and then climbing down the side of the building… the daredevil-like plan fading from her mind as struggled to think of a sensible move after that.

As stormtroopers filed through the crowd of confused workers and civilians, Wes was able to put herself even further from the patrol, choosing to take the nearest turbolift and pray that it could get her down to ground level faster than usual.

When the smooth white doors parted, Wes stepped out in a familiar location, the familiarity of the scenery didn't help calm her racing heart nor the friction that came from rubbing hands colliding against one another.

The usual amount of people walked down the corridor and didn't give the Twi'lek a glance as they passed by the open lift, she slowly stepped out and began to look up towards the signs written in Basic again, the platforms were only a few more sprints away!

The giant bridge that spanned what looked like miles, the smooth metal of inner Cloud City was lost, and instead rusted orange colours gave the bridge walls a grime-y, rundown look as the roofing above the bridge had been replaced by a thick layer of glass.

A distinct ship flew overhead… A particularly sleek three winged shuttle passed overhead, earning it several onlookers including Wes who recognised it as a imperial shuttle, she imagined another deployment of low ranking delinquents being shipped here for punishment.

More troops made her see less hope by the second. The woman slowed her pace as she began to join the flow of travellers and explorers walking along the right side of bridge. With her head down, Wes began to identify her threats by the colour of their boots, white and black meant stormtrooper and anything else wasn't worth panicking over.

Once through out on the outer ring of platforms, Wes looked around. Full of escape routes as most parked spaceships had a weathered and downtrodden look to their exteriors that made her assume underguarded and unfunded...

Briskly walking between cargo and landing crew, she made her way up to one of the smaller platforms, the ship took up a majority of the platform, she had seen the ship before, although that Jumpmaster 5000 had its U shape both regularly cleaned and repaired. This one suffered a grey paintjob and had deep, visible tears along it's long curved front, even the small cockpit had noticeable smears across its glass. She could only imagine how it felt to fly that thing.

Regardless, Wes stepped up the ramp and slipped inside of the narrow ship, the main area of the ship seemed to be the cargo bay, with a ramp wide enough to store a few tons worth of crates and enough cables with the strength to clamp the cargo to the ship's deck.

The ship felt empty for a moment, then she felt a presence it was close enough to warrant her attention. Wes hated to use the force for such minor needs but reaching out with the force she felt something concealed nearby, reaching against the well worn wall only to find a dip in the plating that held each metal plate against the next, one big enough to pry it away, revealing a comfortably sized compartment already occupied by several blaster rifles that had been stacked against its wall, with no time to spare she stepped into the compartment and pulled the cover back over the compartment.

From inside the dark space she cold makes out small shapes thanks to small holes gnawed through the metal, boots climbed the ramp and who filled them surprised Wes.

She glimpsed a well-worn attire of pants weighed down by a utility belt and a brown jacket wrapped around a pink skinned woman, long black hair that bobbed as she walked protected the woman's face from her peeping gaze.

"You can look around, you aren't gonna find anything to do with these rebel people." A soft voice came from the pilot as she turned, an anger expression resting on her face as she looked down the ramp.

Wes saw who she was talking to, two stormtroopers that stood upright and alert, she imagined if they heard the slightest noise she'd be found and that made her distrust the following breathes she took.

Her view of the cargo hold was blocked by one trooper who must have stood in the way, quiet and careful hands made no sound as they lifted crate lids open.

"Nothing here… wait." She heard hands pressing against the panel of the compartment and swallowed, trying to retain her composure…

She would be discovered if any noise escaped her. Pressure built in her stomach, a complex knot tightening and ensnaring her heart in a way that made her nauseous. Then it hit her…

Wes slowly lifted her hand up and waved it from left to right slowly, it had been years since she had to do this…

"Nothing here…" It came out as a whisper, speaking any higher risked her voice breaking from the pressure.

Reaching with her mind, she repeated the phrase into the mind that she perceived before her, a simple set of memories flew by in the dark recess of her mind and there she simply watched her words insert themselves into the matrix of words that swirled around a bright light she imagined was the man's mind.

"Nothing here." The sound of the stormtrooper repeating her words calmed her considerably, but she had to wonder what the pilot would think of this sudden change of mind…

"Alright, well you're good then." Came the other stormtrooper's voice. Within seconds she relaxed, the footsteps got quieter with distance. The moment she felt the leave the reach of her mind she could finally pull her fingers from the fists she had curled them up into…

In her relief she had forgotten about the other life form on board, that mind swelling with emotions that Wes identified as confusion and paranoia.

She looked down at the numerous blasters stuffed into the compartment, her mind pondered the idea of arming herself and she imagined that being the first thing her potential pilot saw, _not a good idea…_

The grate was soon removed, slowly and carefully, The Pilot stepped into view, a heavy blaster kept trained on Wes. She paled at the idea of her last minutes being spent in a cramped little smuggling compartment…

The other woman spoke first.

"What are you doing in here?" The Zeltron's soft narrow face twisted into a frown as she kept the blaster level with Wes' head.

"Hiding…" Wes admitted, looking away from the barrel finally.

The Pilot must have sensed the kind of dark hopelessness Wes emitted as she lowered her blaster.

"Why."

"Local security wants me…" She told her simply, vague to the point where it wasn't even really a lie…

"So, you decided to stowaway?"

"Yeah… guess that plans out of the window."

"You know what you were hiding with?"

"Enough weapons to arm a small colony." She mused quietly, not aiming to make the pilot trigger happy.

"Where did you want to go?" Her reaction struck Wes as opportunistic, she subconsciously held onto her bag, remembering the worth of what was inside.

Wes relaxed a little however, there was an opportunity… of course it was in the pilot's favour but a small favour for freedom was enough of a risk for her to take willingly...

"Anywhere but here…"

"I'll make you a deal, help me get these weapons to their buyer, I'll drop you off somewhere and we'll both forget each other…" The Pilot proposed.

"Sure." Wes let go of her bag now.

"But… I'll need credits for services…" The Pilot's mouth curled into a smirk as she saw Wes reach for her bag.

"How many…" Wes now holding out 50 credits in the palm of her hand.

"That'll do…" She glanced up from the credits and up at Wes's face. "For now."

The Pilot lowered her blaster and holstered it, reaching out with a gloved hand to help Wes out of the compartment.

"What's your name?" Wes asked the Zeltron.

"Ali Zabin." She let go of her hand and looked Wes over. "You?"

"Wes…" The twi'lek relieved to be free of the compartment as she arched back and flexed her arms.

"That hammock over there will be yours for however long it takes for us to reach Naboo."

"Naboo?" The planet could only be associated with the Empire in her mind. "Why are you smuggling weapons there?"

"Best you just help me and stop asking questions." Ali suggested bluntly, Wes took that as a warning and moved towards the hammock, content to lay down and just pass time by sleeping…

Wes shut her eyes, enjoying the soft material of the hammock as she felt the cargo hold shake as take off protocols were engaged.

Perhaps she would find some peaceful part of the galaxy near to Naboo or maybe she could discover the fate of her damn lightsaber…

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I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I hope people who enjoy this series follow and favourite it and others review it to let me know how well or how bad I'm doing XD


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